Foxy
by Ace5980
Summary: Kitty is a runaway with strange powers and a huge secret.  When Envy and Ed find her in a circle to bring back a homunculus, something strange begins to happen, especially when her past comes looking for her... EnvyxOC, eventual EdxOC.  Post-series, AUish
1. P: Escaping the Garden of Eternity

Ace: Guess what? I have a new story!

Envy: What happened to the old ones?

Ace: Uh... I'm still gonna do them... I just... couldn't get this one... out of my head... and I really wanted to do it... and, aw hell, I just don't have any real excuse for this.

Ed: And how'd you write this up? You've been hiding behind the bathroom door for about 3 days straight even though you keep yelling at us that it's not the flu and you aren't doing anything in there!

Ace: I kinda stole my dad's work laptop...

Ed: Oh.

Envy: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Ace: ENVY, I'MA GONNA KILL YOU!

Envy: ... If you come out of the bathroom, you do know that it will be you dying, not me.

Ace: Dang it.

* * *

Prologue: Escaping the Garden of Eternity

Kitty ran through the seemingly endless forest of the Garden, her thigh-length fiery red hair flying behind her and tangling in clumps around her ears. Her bare feet were soundless on the matter dirt beneath her, but her fluffy white dress had several tears in it from where it had caught on the surrounding flora. Chest heaving, she tossed her hair aside as she continued to run as fast as she could, far past her usual limits of endurance. Hearing the sounds of the Hounds behind her, she ran faster, the fear lending her renewed strength. Finally, after she was beginning to fear she'd never reach it, a large ivory watchtower came into view along with an elegant wrought-iron fence encrusted with ivy. "Kit!" she cried as she came closer, "KIT!"

A head popped out of the top window. "Hey, Kitty! What's up?" He looked up then, seeing something she couldn't from her lower vantage point. "What the hell did you do this time, Kitty?"

"Just open the damn gate, Kit! The Hounds are after me!"

An older boy with long hair the same color as hers stepped out from the ivory stone as though it wasn't even there and caught her by the arm. "What did you do, Sister? Why are the Hounds chasing you? _What did you do?_"

She bit her lip, yanking her arm from his grasp. "The less you know, the better, Brother."

"Tell me. I'm not afraid. Only a fellow Guardian can penetrate a Watchtower and they would never betray one of their own to a Royal."

"... I stole something, Kit, something that would give them more than enough reason to yank off all my tails if I'm caught."

He sighed, jerking a hand viciously through his hair. "Fine, Kitty. I can tell I won't be able to get the truth out of you, so I'm not gonna press you for why you want out of the Garden." He walked over to the fence, pressing a slender hand to the ivy. For one moment, he was surrounded in a green glow, his hair floating upwards as he seemed to look almost prouder, more regal, but then the moment was gone and it was only her younger brother standing before the fleeing girl. The ivy retreated from the metal, which liquefied under his touch to make a hole just big enough for Kitty to slip through. "Be careful, Sister," he warned, catching her before she weaved out of the Garden.

She smiled sadly. "Shouldn't it be the older sibling saying that, not the younger?" She leaned forward to kiss his cheek fondly, eyes shining. "Make sure you don't lose yourself, Kit."

"Kitty," he sighed, and they both froze at the sound of unearthly howls rising from where Kitty had come. "Go, go," he urged, his face fierce.

She wriggled through the fence, pressing herself against the metal so that her face was near his. "You'll make a phenomenal Guardian one day, Kit. I can see it."

He wrinkled his nose delicately. "I know I'm not one for hiding, but I think it would be safe to seek haven in the human realm. No one would ever think you would go hide there."

Kitty shivered delicately. "Yeah, but don't the human realms revolve around knowing someone? I know no one in that realm who would take me in as is, never mind if they knew the truth."

"I'm no Seer, Kitty, but I _can_ See that if there's one person you can trust, it's what I can only describe as a traitor to our kind."

"Thanks for the insight, Kit." She gave him one last smile, holding it until the ivy hid his figure from her view. Only then did she let her smile slip from her face, turning her back and running. She didn't dare stop moving now that she was outside the protection of the Garden. There were simply too many enemies of her kind here in this no-mans'-land for her to risk it.

Acting on instinct, she recoiled violently from her first landmark in the blurry landscape, a pool without reflection, only to narrowly avoid a woman with dark black hair, red eyes, and unnaturally long fangs collide with her. Kitty, heart in her throat, turned tail and ran as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding another collision, this time with a long-haired man with a beak mask on his face. Pinned between a tree and the pool, she had little choice of where she could go. Fearfully, she glanced back to the water, debating the pros and cons of venturing inside. "Oh no," the woman hissed, "I don't think you want to venture into the Pool of Fate. It will dump you out into the worst possible place you can imagine, little one."

Kitty already knew that. Why else had she been planning on using the Portal rather than one of the more unpredictable Pools? But in her current predicament with enemies all around, she had little choices left to her. Her hand flew to her neck, grasping a small fox on a necklace chain so hard her knuckles turned white from blood-loss. In a sudden movement, she wheeled, breaking the chain from her neck so that she could slam the little fox icon onto an upraised rock beside the pool and then, before either of them could stop her, land solidly into the pool and disappear from there in a flash of white light and intense pain.

* * *

Edward sighed, running a hand through his hair absently. He couldn't believe that even after he had released his story to the public that some idiot had still tried to perform Human Transmutation. He didn't really want to go find what was left, but he had no real choice in the matter. Roy Mustang had called in a favor, so he had ended up standing there in front of a small house with his current traveling companion, none other than his tame-ish homunculus, Envy. The sin had taken the form of a fluttery little girl who looked almost like a younger, girl version of Ed and was glaring holes in her slender dress at her thigh, no doubt imaging the red flamel that had taken the place of his Ouroboros once Ed had defeated Dante, the only reason he couldn't simply kill the alchemist and get on with his life. "Envy, doing a death glare isn't going to get rid of your mark, you know."

"And giving the house we're supposed to go into a death glare isn't going to get rid of the fact that you need to go in there and do that stupid favor for Flame either, Master."

Ed grimaced at the homunculus's sarcastic response but didn't bother to discipline him. Nothing could really turn off that part of the artificial human, so he was stuck with having a sarcastic bastard under him in addition to a perverted bastard calling him to fulfill long-forgotten favors. "Let's just get this over with so that I can go back to figuring out how to get you to stop insulting me for longer than five minutes."

"Right behind you, O-chibi-san." With that last comment, Envy skipped off into the house, 141 Fox Creek Lane, with Edward glaring daggers into his immortal back the whole way.

* * *

Kitty groaned, shaking her head in pain. She knew her trip through the Pool had done something to her, something she didn't even want to think about right now. She could sense a dimming presence, one she took to mean a life had recently been extinguished in this residence, likely in the very room she'd been dumped into, in addition to a strangely golden light approaching towards her behind an even more out-of-place light that seemed overly swollen to her. Slowly, she tried to regain movement of her limbs, but nothing came. Instead, fierce pain laced through her right arm, and she whimpered in response. Something was not right here, and she had to figure out what it was and fast.

* * *

Envy: So let me get this straight. This is a mainly manga-based story, but you're going with part anime simply to keep me alive and give me a reason to be under Ed's control?

Ace: Uh yeah, pretty much.

Ed: And what's up with Kitty?

Ace: Um... you'll find out later...

Ed: I hear typing in there...

Ace: It's nothing!

Ed: Kitty?

Kitty: She's planning out your OC character.

Envy: Damn it, that means I'm with you.

Kitty: Wha?

Envy: Nothing. *halo appears around head*

Ed: That is downright creepy.

Kitty: Agreed. Let's just offer halos to whoever decides to review this and leave it at that.

Ed: Yeah. It's the only way to get rid of it.


	2. 1: Human Transmutation Yields More Than

Ace: Wah! No one took away the creepy halo!

Envy: Mwahahahahahaha!

Ed: AH, NOT THE HALO!

Kitty: ANYTHING BUT THE HALO!

Ace: Quick, just do a group review answer and get on with it, before the halos attack them too!

Kitty: Ace would like to thank Furorensu-Chan, CrystalParticles, and Megan May for their collective comments on the story and the hopes to update soon that she'll likely have to crush in about two weeks.

Ace: And Furorensu-Chan, I'm glad you like my style. It took me three years to get it up to this, and I-

Ed: Please tell me you're not shamelessly advertising.

Ace: I'M NOT SHAMELESSLY ADVERTISING (yet)! No, I'm simply saying that if she wants to help me by going through some of my other unpublished stories, she's welcome to drop me a line.

Envy: And before she actually does get to shamelessly advertising, let's do the disclaimer!

Kitty: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

* * *

Chapter One: Human Transmutation Yields More Than Homunculi

When Envy first stepped through the door of the house, he could only describe the once-vibrant place in the same way he always described these places; dark, creepy, and smelling like death. It was ironic to him that in the creation of a new life, it made the surroundings reek of death. Without waiting for the command of his master, he began scoping out the house for where the new homunculus had been born. Even though the entire ordeal with the homunculi had been made public knowledge, Human Transmutation was still taboo, so it was likely the attempt had been done in the shadows of a basement. Nodding to himself, he threw the longer blond hair he'd made for himself over a single shoulder and began poking around for a door leading downwards.

* * *

Kitty whimpered weakly, cradling her injured arm to her chest. She couldn't do much in the way of movement, not in her current state. Pain was an unfamiliar sensation to the runaway, something she'd rarely experienced when she'd dwelled within the safety of the Garden. She struggled to an upright position, feeling the conflicting sensations of fur on the back of her calf and silky hair tickling her ribs. Slowly, she brought a hand up to her neck, feeling around until the smoothness of cool metal met her searching fingertips and she could dare to relax slightly. She may have lost the little fox trinket that identified her as a Royal, a Pureblood nonetheless, but she still had the one thing she had promised her dying mentor she would protect. That in and of itself was enough to give her the courage she'd need to keep running.

* * *

Having investigated every single door on the entire first floor, Envy reluctantly had to admit that the house didn't have a basement. So where else would a frightened alchemist perform his greatest shame? He groaned, slapping himself in the forehead when the answer flew down from the heavens to personally smack him upside the head. Of course. The damned human had done the deed in the attic. Wheeling around, he darted up the stairs, narrowly avoiding running straight into an unsuspecting Edward, and yanked down the magical cord to pull down the stairs up to the attic. This went beyond the urge to be better than the young alchemist. The sin had thought himself the last true homunculus left since he didn't count the little brat, Wrath, that had followed Al to Xing or the other little brat, Pride, who was a happy child now. Of course, with the birth of this new homunculus, there would be another, and he wanted to keep it.

This desire to have a companion was what motivated him to be the first up the stairs to see the blood-covered room that had seen the birth of a homunculus and the death of an alchemist. He could hear Ed swallow hard behind him as the ex-State Alchemist struggled not to be sick at the gruesome scene before them. Envy suffered no such short-comings, far more used to the sight of the aftermath provided by the taboo than Ed was. His faux golden eyes swept over the walls painted crimson, the motionless body of a man, and the average alchemy circle traced on the floor in what was no doubt the late fellow's lifeblood. Only when they heard the slight sound of a small squeak did they realize they were by no means alone in this place of death.

In the exact center of the circle was a girl about Ed's size, her frightened amber eyes regarding them. She was naked, covered only by the slight curtain provided by her elbow-length dull reddish-brown hair. She had a small silver key around her neck and cradled an arm to her breast, likely more from hurt than fear. A thick red tail snaked around her waist and the tips of a pair of animal ears peeked out from her hair. In all honesty, Envy had never seen such a pitiable creature before in his entire life.

Turning away so that he didn't try jumping the confused girl, he hated how pity went straight down to where he didn't need it right now, he decided to leave the pipsqueak to coax her out of the corner and go try to find her some clothes. She may not be feeling embarrassed, but Edward no doubt was. The only thing he could think about as he climbed down the ladder and shifted into his usual form was that the newborn homunculi had never before been fully formed, let alone possessing attributes from the animal world.

* * *

The auras of the two humans who had come in frightened Kitty. The boy with the red coat had killed before, but not nearly as much as the girl had. Kitty had never been around death before; the only inhabitants of the Garden who dealt with violence were the Guardians and the High Council, neither of which Kitty had been involved in despite her stellar bloodline and her brother's own affiliation to the Guardians. True, her mentor had died in her arms, but he had been old and sickly, ready to meet death. It was an entirely different thing from these two who reminded her so much of the dreaded and feared Deathdealers. The runaway was in no position to run, but she could not betray herself now.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the girl go back down the hole they had come from, but she was quickly distracted by the approach of the boy. His abnormal golden aura was full of gentleness, but she still shied away from his approach fearfully. Like all the others, Kitty had done her time looking down on the mortal realms, so she knew these two were not like the other humans, and that terrified her. Everything she had known had disappeared the instant she had taken the Key from her dead mentor's neck like she'd promised him. All she had left was her promise to keep the Key safe and her brother's vague advice to trust a traitor to her kind.

"Hey Edward!" a voice called from the hole, closer than she would've expected and badly startling her, "I found her some clothes, but you're gonna need to transmute them to fit her properly!" Her eyes widened in shock, brain reeling. Her mind was trying to shove a square into a round hole and all she got was a "does not compute". The older teenage boy who came up had the exact same aura, a swollen lavender, as the girl from before. All of them froze, the boys to try not to startle her and Kitty because she was too busy with her missing brain.

Eventually it clicked for her. This boy had to be the one Kit had been talking about when he'd said a traitor to her kind. He was a shapeshifter, just like nay other of her race. The only thing was that he had no ears or tails. The blond boy glared at the other one, his eyes telling the boy to try coaxing her out. He swallowed hard, slowly holding out a hand to her, but she chose to speak then. "Where are your ears?" she asked quietly, startling them with the wind-chime quality to her voice.

He frowned. "Ears?" He swallowed hard again, suddenly realizing that whatever she was, it certainly wasn't a homunculus. "I'm not like you."

"No you're not," she said slowly, "but you must be the one I've been looking for." She then threw herself into his arm, hiding herself in his embrace before the pain of jolting her bad arm sunk through and she fainted in his arms, slightly reassured now that she had found the one Kit had told her to look for.

* * *

Envy reacted on instinct when he had caught the girl. Yes, that was what he told himself as he cradled her close. It was all a simple reaction, nothing more. He would have done the same thing if it had been Edward instead of her. Ed had transmuted a blanket they'd draped around her into a dress, but even when the alchemist had offered to take her from him, he had refused to give her up. He like the warmth of her against his skin, nothing more. She just triggered the instinct to protect her with her sweet face and small stature. Surely that was all it was, subconscious thoughts triggering involuntary actions on his part?

And yet, for some reason he couldn't quite understand, the sin couldn't find it in himself to drop her. He had dropped sexy teenagers, young girls, all kinds of females from all walks of life, but none held quite the same appeal as this one did. She almost seemed to radiate power, so why had she been frightened of them? Better yet, what was she doing in a an alchemy circle when she wasn't a chimera or a homunculus? It must be the curiosity pulling him in; yes, that was it.

* * *

Ace: Oh Envy, so deluded about his feelings to Kitty.

Envy: Oh Ace, so deluded about her inability to know when to keep her mouth shut.

Ace: Meep! *hides behind Ed* Don't let him kill me!

Ed: *sigh* Kitty, do you have a proper reward this time?

Kitty: Yep! Reviewers get Ed's pocket watch!

Ed: Hey! How'd you get that?

Kitty: I stole it from Envy.

Envy: I stole it from Ace.

Ace: I stole it from Roy Mustang.

Ed: I hate you all.

Ace: Laters! *runs away*

Kitty: I'm outta here too! *runs off*

Envy: Right behind 'ya! *disappears using magic*

Ed: ... Whatever. *walks away*


	3. 2: Kitty's No Cat

Ace: Hehehe, I gots a secret.

Envy: Oh God. What is it this time, Ace?

Ace: WE GOTS REVIEWS!

Envy: How lovely.

Kitty: I wanna answer one! Furorensu-chan, we have no idea why Mustang had Ed's watch, and we couldn't hunt him down to ask either. Thanks for liking me though. I'm so afraid people are gonna call me a Mary Sue! *hides behind Envy*

Ace: There is something wrong with you. Anyway, yeah, it took me about 3 years to get to this point in my style, so the more you read and write, the more you'll like how you write. If you don't like the product, then you'll never write the best you can.

Ed: Megan May, Ace would like to apologize for her prolonged updates and for the future prospect of even slower ones now that school has started, however she does like that people like this story.

Envy: DarkVampirePrincess8, I will be needed to add you to my hitlist. I DO NOT HAVE FEELINGS FOR KITTY AND MY FEELINGS ARE BY NO MEANS ADORABLE!

Ace: Hah, you admitted you have feelings!

Envy: ... Damn it.

Ed: AND GIVE ME BACK MY POCKET WATCH, DAMMIT!

Kitty: *sigh* Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist...

* * *

Chapter Two: Kitty's No Cat

Edward was having trouble making his mind logically accept that Envy wasn't smoking some kind of potent illegal drug. After all, in what universe would Envy catch a fainting girl, refuse to hand her off to someone who was far better with girls, and not show the least little bit of inclination to drop her, let alone the gentle cradling he was doing for her? The sin was even reluctant to take her in to Roy, unwilling to see her executed by the Military. There was only one reason why he had agreed to take her to Headquarters, and that was because he must've thought he could protect her well enough if things got out of hand.

Ed sighed heavily, closing his golden eyes momentarily. If there was something about this girl that triggered Envy's previously non-existent good side, who was he to stand in the way of a non-psychotic Envy? "Change of plans, we're taking her back to our place. If the Flamepony's so concerned about her, he can stop by himself. I won't have her taken _to_ the Military only to be taken _by_ the Military."

The homunculus was quiet as they changed direction to go to Ed's apartment. After a long moment, he quietly murmured, "Thank you, Edward." Eventually, it took a moment, but the words registered to the alchemist, who looked at him in shock. He had never called Edward by his name since his alliance had been forcibly shifted to the blond after Dante's defeat, and from the sound of it, he had never before thanked someone while fully meaning it. The ex-alchemist nodded in acknowledgment, waving away the thanks. If the girl continued to captivate Envy and prompt him to not be a murderous psychopath, Edward didn't mind bending a few rules to keep her safe and close to the artificial human.

* * *

Roy was irritated that he had to venture all the way out to Ed's apartment to receive a report on what the blond had found, but he'd be even more irritated if Ed hadn't found anything worth hiding. Rummaging around in his pockets, the alchemist pulled out the spare key his youngest subordinate had given him and let himself into the flat. When he saw the homunculus on the couch, he didn't think. "DIE!" he yelled, snapping his fingers and releasing a tiny flame that was rapidly growing the epic size.

There was a small movement by the sin's chest and then a pair of sleepy amber eyes regarded the Flame Alchemist thoughtfully. The girl raised her hand up lazily, and all of the fire Roy had summoned rushed to her palm and disappeared. Her ears twitched, and she shyly hid herself behind Envy's hair, tail swishing once. "Okay," Roy demanded, "Who and what the hell are you and why did you appear in an alchemy circle for human transmutation?"

"My name is Kitty, and I have no idea why I was put down there, but that alchemy, array I think the word is?, yes, array must be able to bridge the gap between my realm and yours." Her ears flickered back uncertainly, hoping she'd answered the man's demands in a satisfactory manner, and she didn't notice that Edward had been within hearing range of her comment and walked off in a stroke of insight.

He came back a moment later carrying a rather hefty tome which was rather conspicuously title-less. After leafing through a handful of pages, he nonchalantly asked, "So, Kitty, how many tails do you have?"

She cocked her head comically, a lock of her long red hair falling into her eyes as the very tips of her ears flopped down. "Nine," she answered as though it was a perfectly normal thread of conversation.

He let out a low whistle. "So you're a Pureblood. I thought they were really rare."

"They are. My brother Kit and I are the last two in existence."

Roy and Envy were hopelessly lost. "Huh?" they said intelligently.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Kitty here is a kitsune, an ancient fox-demon with shapeshifting abilities whose power lies in its numerous tails."

"Where'd you learn that," Roy snorted. "_The Dictionary of Mythical and Obscure Creatures_? _Encyclopedia of Obscure Divine Animals_?"

"No," the blond replied, tapping the book impatiently, "_The Immortal Arcana_." He smirked then. "The homunculi are covered in there too." Regaining some sense of decency, he set the book down on a table and sat down on the floor himself. "She got me thinking about foxes when I noticed her tail was that of a fox, but I didn't suspect she was a kitsune until after she seemed to trust Envy directly after the fact she'd figured out he was a shapeshifter as well. The thing she did with the fire just reinforced it for me."

Roy didn't seem convinced. "If Kitty really is one of those rare nine-tailed kitsunes, then what is she doing here and why does she only have one tail?"

She glared at him. "Only one tail physically manifests itself outside of a kitsune's true form, human, and I'm here because I took something of extreme importance when I fled the Immortal Realms to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands."

"What kind of wrong hands?" Envy asked, eyes narrowed.

"Let's just say there are worse demons out there than kitsunes and leave it at that." With that, the young fox-demon padded off, leaving the two alchemists to discuss what they were going to do with her. After a moment, Envy followed her, finding her sitting on a bed and playing with the silver key around her neck. He had a sneaking suspicion that key was very important but said nothing of it as he lay down beside her and watched her movements out of the corner of one lavender eye.

* * *

Ash sighed, looking out over a long stretch of ground. He knew this was only the calm before the storm and that in a matter of hours, that place would be filled with the screams of the hurt and dying. No matter how much his people may have disliked that they fought to protect those low-down cowards that called themselves kitsunes, Ash kept them fighting, if only because to stop facing the enemy now meant they would all be killed at the hands of the enemy themselves. It was a hard, thankless task, made even more difficult by the treacherous whisperings of his sister Dove and her consort Shadow. Dove was nothing but trouble, kept in line only by their father, who led their ragtag clan on the survivors of his race.

"Prince Ash!" a messenger cried, hastily bowing, "I bring terrible news. Your father is dead, and your sister proclaimed it a poisoning and requested that I bring you this letter." Ash ripped the scroll from the messenger's hand in his haste, needing to see the words written by his own sister's pen. Fumbling, he unrolled the paper to read three words, So long, brother. Recognizing the lethality of his current situation, his hands rushed to his neck, resting on the cool metal underneath his shirt now that he'd thrown the scroll away from himself. The thing had been liberally coated in poison, and while he'd recognized its deadly intent in but an instant, the poor messenger had remained utterly clueless right up until he'd collapsed, stark dead.

Regretfully, he used what limited magical abilities he could to transform the messenger's body into a likeness of his own in order to buy himself some time to get a good head start. There was only one person who could help Ash now, and that was the Keymaster of the kitsunes, the one who held the Master Key. Ash's pride sunk that he'd have to stoop low enough to accept a damn kitsune's help, but he was a survivor first and foremost, and if that was what he had to do to live, then so be it. He reached under his shirt, pulling out his burden, three small bronze keys, and cupping them in his palm. "Take me to the Keymaster who guards the Master Key," he whispered. The keys gleamed, and he was transported away from there in a flash of bright white light. An hour later when an officer finally managed to bust down the locked door and discover the deception that had been pulled with the body, all that was left in the room to give a sign of the vanished prince was a single black feather resting on the tiled floor.

* * *

Ash: I just love how you introduced me.

Ace: Shut up, I haven't even got to the best part yet!

Kitty: What's the best part?

Ace: It involves you and Envy in addition to him.

Envy: I'm concerned now.

Ed: ... I don't like Ash.

Envy: Me either. Let's offer the teaser feathers Ace made him leave behind as a reward!

Ed: Agreed!

Kitty: Boys! Please, stop being mean to Ash!

Ash: HEY! I DON'T NEED A KITSUNE TO DEFEND ME!

Kitty: ... That's it, we're using the magic feathers.

Ace: Agreed, and if we run out, we can always rip some more off.

Ash: ... These people are insane.

Ed: Just a little.


	4. 3: The First Gate of the Yokai

Kitty: WHY DIDN'T LOTS OF PEOPLE REVIEW TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER?

Ash: Because they hate you.

Kitty: *eyes go huge*

Ace: Anyways, we're gonna make things quick since I made a lot of footnotes in this, so you'll have to go down the bottom to read them all. We won't put ending notes as a result, so the reward will remain the same...

Envy: Blah blah blah, thank Furorensu-chan for reviewing, Ace got a Facebook page so that she could put her hidden sketches she needs to scan into the computer so you're welcome to go look those up by the time the next chapter comes out thanks to study hall, end of story.

Edward: Why can't anyone act their age, for once?

Kitty: It's so much fun not to. Oh, and thanks for the help, Furorensu-Chan! I feel so much better inside!

Ace: I know, that's probably my second favorite line from this story. My fav from this would be later in this chapter, and if anyone guesses it, they get... cake, I guess. I mean, the cake is delicious and moist...

Envy: And sadly, Ace has been writing for far too long and now her papers are about three times as long as the word limit...

Ace: SCREW YOU, WORD LIMIT!

Ash: ... Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Ed: He looks creeped out.

Ace: Oh most definitely. *smiles*

Everyone else: *backs away slowly and then runs off*

* * *

Chapter Two: The First Gate of the Yokai(1)

Kitty liked the park. It reminded her of her home, a bitter-sweet memory now, but one she liked nonetheless. Envy had volunteered to accompany her and now leaned against a tree, watching her warily with lavender eyes. She darted around the secluded clearing, tail poking out comically from the long black coat Ed had bought her to hide her fox attributes, acting like a young kit the way she lightly batted at butterflies, giggling. Bouncing over her and playing with the very tip of her tail were four baby fox kids that had shown up shortly after her arrival, attracted by the presence of the kitsune. Ears twitching one, she got up, said something quietly to the kids, and walked over to the sin, stopping before him and asking, "Envy, why aren't you enjoying the day out?"

"You looked like you were having so much fun," he murmured dejectedly, not meeting her eyes. "Animals don't usually tolerate me. They can smell the death following me."

"Oh." Her tail and ears drooped, saddened by what he had told her. Kitsunes loved anything with fur (2), so it was hard for her to imagine a life without some little animal following her around looking for attention. Catching a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye, he thought she looked desolate enough to cheer up a puppy longing for its dead owner. Now Envy had never before comforted anyone, but for Kitty, well, he was willing to give it a try. Awkwardly, he reached out to pull her against his body and stroke her hair and back. She let out a contented little hum, leaning into his touch.

"OW!" he yelled, twisting. Something had tugged his hair hard and it had hurt like hell. She pulled away fro him slowly, her tail twitching angrily. At first, the homunculus had thought her response to Roy Mustang earlier had been anger, but now, looking at a wrathful kitsune, he could tell she had only been mildly irritated them. Her flaming red hair swirled around her ominously and her amber eyes held a dangerous fire to them. He made a mental note not to antagonize the fox-demon in the future.

Kitty was furious. In the Garden, she hadn't given the strength in her nine tails a second thought, but in that moment, she could feel the power hidden inside them throughout her entire body, and she longed to do more than the mere brushing against the Gates that she'd done before now. It had only been a mere imp, the most minor and parasitic of all ayakashi (3), that had yanked on Envy's hair, but she wanted to teach _all_ the demons out there a lesson about messing with him, so rather than fall back on the generic holy magic she'd been taught to use, she decided to tap into the power of her first tail. "**I open the First Gate**," she said in the yokai language, "**The Gate of Fire!**"

* * *

Ash opened his eyes with a gasp. He tensed, his hand gripping the hilt of his curved sword anxiously. Something was horribly wrong. His body was telling him what was happening while his mind refused to accept it. Somewhere in this realm, one of the Mortal Realms, a powerful yokai was invoking the First Gate, an action foolish enough to destroy the entire realm. Once a Gate was opened, there was no real way to stop it from overwhelming you. Everyone, even the greatest of the kitsune's spellcasters, had proven unable to bear the burden of closing even a slight crack in the Gate without dying. Surely no demon was reckless enough to attempt such a feat? However, since he knew of no other yokai in the area, he was clearly the only one able to at least attempt to close a breach of that caliber without suffering a horrible fate. Sighing, he slipped into his true form and flew off _towards_ the energy surge rather than away from it like any sane demon would do. Gods (4), this was _so_ not his day.

* * *

Deep in the ether between planes of existence, the Great Serpent Apophis (5) stirred from his slumber. Since a group of three yokai sorcerers had imprisoned him between worlds, he had done naught but hibernate. He flexed lazily, testing his bonds for the first time in many a millennium. His cousins had long since removed their chains, but the remaining two bindings had held him fast. But now, some foolish kitsune had dared to open the First Gate, and he seized upon the magical backlash to shatter the powerful restraint of her fellow fox-demon. From there, it was a simple feat for the embodiment of chaos to break the remaining spell and escape into the realm beyond the gaping hole in the universe.

* * *

When Roy saw the gigantic red snake in the sky from his office window, he thought the world was ending, which meant he no longer had any reason to do his paperwork. When Ed, however, saw the same sight, he somehow knew it had to be Envy-and-Kitty-related. The Colonel took advantage of the blond's distraction to shove all of his paperwork into the metal trash can beside his desk and light it all on fire, grinning maniacally, but the boy was far too busy searching his memory of mythology for creepy snakes to bother with the Flame Alchemist. He was fairly certain it was an Egyptian embodiment of chaos, but the name for the damn creature eluded him. "Come on, bastard, we should probably make ourselves scarce _before_ the paperwork gods send in their representative to kill you."

Roy's smile disappeared faster than anyone thought possible. "I'm outta here!" he yelped, jumping out the window and running for his life. Edward sighed, hopping out the window himself and sprinting off to go find his ornery homunculus servant and the small kitsune that had so readily attached herself to the sin.

* * *

Ash gasped at the sight of the writhing crimson serpent above him, his knuckles turning white on the wire-wrapped hilt of his sword. His wings faltered for a moment before they picked up again, urging him faster. There was only one yokai he knew that was powerful enough to invoke a Gate and release Apophis, and if she was here, something must be horribly wrong.

"ENVY, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" Edward yelled at the frozen homunculus. "AND WHERE'S KITTY?"

Suddenly, a black blur came hurtling out of the sky, revealing itself as a handsome older teenager with long black hair, large soot-black wings, and a black beak mask on his face. A curved sword glinted in his hand, catching the light, and before any of them could react, he was pinned to a tree by a large fox with fire dancing around its paws and nine tails flowing ominously behind it. "Stay away from him, tengu (6)!" it snarled, anger burning in its gaze and tone.

"Kitty?" he spluttered, his eyes wide and wings flapping.

"Ash?" she said, pushing herself back down to all fours. For a moment, she looked a lot like the Kitty Ed and Envy had found in the transmutation circle, but then she was gone, growling at the serpent "**Murderer of my people, embodiment of chaos**," she hissed balefully in the yokai language, making the tengu flinch from the unnatural hostility in her words, "**I will smite you down from whence you came!**" She sprinted off then, the fires from her paws lingering long after she'd left.

"You see, this is why invoking a Gate is so frowned upon in all yokai culture!" Ash muttered darkly. "It takes away your identity and makes you do things you never would in your right mind." He twirled his sword regretfully in his hands. "Oh Kitty, never did I dream I would one day be force to kill you with my own hands, but it's already far too late to try to pull you out of this one."

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Envy yelled, hands fisting, "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO KILL KITTY?"

* * *

"I'm her fiancée."

1- Yokai means the same thing as "demon" in Japanese, only it also includes the kanji for "suspicious". In this fanfic, it will be used to distinguish the higher-class demons, which are the kitsunes, tengus, and shirohebis.

2- Kitsunes are attracted to animals with fur, tengus to feathers, and shirohebis to everything else. Insects, however, are fair game for all yokai and mainly used in spells.

3-Ayakashi- means "demon" in Japanese. Does not posses the kanji for "suspicious". In this fic, ayakashi are lower-level demons such as imps, sprites, fairies, or nymphs, just to name a few.

4-Gods refers to the fact that Ash and Kitty come from a realm where they believe in multiple gods, so when the story's being told from behind them or another demon, the term will normally be "gods" instead of Ed, Envy, Roy, or any other human's "God".

5- Apophis is a real snake embodiment of chaos for Ancient Egypt, I think. It might actually be made up, in which case you need to blame Rick Riodan's _The Red Pyramid_, not me. I was just too lazy to look up another chaos god or something for them to fight.

6-Tengu, in case you didn't know by now, is another demon of Japanese origin, part blackbird. The main reason this footnote is here is to refer you to the series _Blackbird_, from which Ash is based off the main tengu, Kyo.

FINAL NOTE- All bolded words from this chapter on are in the yokai language and not only Kitty will be speaking it. Ed and Envy don't understand the yokai language, so the translations will be provided courtesy of Ash and Kitty just to keep you all informed.


End file.
